KR102137192B1 - Food input device - Google Patents

Abstract

The input device 10 of the food 40 includes a supply unit 20 for supplying the food 40, and a gripping unit 30 for gripping a plurality of the foods 40 listed by the supply unit 20, A plurality of foods 40 gripped by the gripping unit 30 is provided with a transport unit for conveying on the tray 41, and the gripping unit 30 is plural in the direction in which the plurality of foods 40 are listed. It is provided with a pinching member (31) to sandwich the food (40) from both sides.

Description

Food input device

The present invention relates to a food input device for packing food into a tray.

Conventionally, as a device for injecting food into a tray, for example, a container injecting device for food shown in Patent Document 1 is known. In this food container loading device, food falls from the conveyer to the fixed chute plate. In this fixed chute plate, the food is dropped by sequentially changing the direction by the timing holder and the holding container. Then, the food in a predetermined attitude falls from the fixed chute plate to the dropping portion, and is turned on in a container conveyed by the conveying portion.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-24408

In the food container input device of Patent Document 1, food is sequentially dropped into a timing holder, a holding container, and a container. As such a container input device for food, it was devised to inject food such as rice balls and sandwiches into the container. These foods are easy to deform, and once deformed by an external force, they do not return to their original form even if the external force is removed. Therefore, when the food falls, if the food is deformed under external force, the product value is impaired by the deformation of the food. As a result, the proportion of non-conforming products increases, and there is a fear that the working efficiency may decrease.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a food input device capable of suppressing a decrease in work efficiency.

In order to achieve the above object, the food input device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a supply unit for supplying food, a gripping unit for gripping a plurality of the food items listed by the supply unit, and a gripping unit by the gripper It is provided with a conveying part for conveying a plurality of the food on a tray, and the gripping part is provided with a pinching member for inserting a plurality of the food from both sides in a direction in which the plurality of foods are listed.

According to this, even the food which is easy to deform can be accommodated in the tray without being deformed by holding the food by a pair of holding members. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an increase in non-conforming product and to suppress a decrease in work efficiency.

Such food input devices may be constituted by plate-like bodies in which a pair of the clamping members are provided parallel to each other. According to this, since the clamping member has a simple shape, an increase in product cost can be suppressed. In addition, since the pinching member is thin, the food can be accommodated in the tray without widening the gap between foods first accommodated in the tray.

Such a food injecting device may include an adsorption head to which the supply portion adsorbs the food. According to this, even if the food is easy to deform, the food can be supplied by the adsorption head without being deformed.

The food-injection device may further include a support member for supporting the plurality of foods on the other side of the direction in which the plurality of foods are arranged in a plurality of foods. According to this, in addition to the clamping member, the food can be supported by the support member, and the food can be gripped more reliably.

In such a device for feeding food, the support member may have a mountain shape in which the support member spreads downward. According to this, it is possible to hold the food more reliably by placing an acid-shaped support member on the top of the triangular food.

The food input device has a pair of planes having parallel outer surfaces of the foods, and a plurality of the foods arranged so that the planes are in contact with each other may be fitted by a pair of the holding members. Therefore, it is possible to stably hold the food, and at the same time, it is possible to improve the storage rate of the food in the tray and to improve the working efficiency.

The food input device may be configured by a robot equipped with a pair of arms each having the gripping portion at its tip. According to this, for example, by using a general-purpose robot capable of replacing the tip, it is possible to input food only by replacing the tip.

The present invention has the configuration described above, and has an effect of suppressing a decrease in work efficiency.

1 is a plan view schematically showing an overall configuration of an example of a robot to which a food input device according to an embodiment is applied.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the control device of the robot of FIG. 1.
3 is a perspective view schematically showing a state in which food is supplied to a worktable by a supply unit.
4 is a perspective view schematically showing a state in which food is being gripped by the gripping unit.
5 is a perspective view schematically showing a state in which food is being conveyed to the tray by the conveying unit.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, hereinafter, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or corresponding elements through all the drawings, and overlapping descriptions are omitted. Also, the drawings are schematic representations of each component for ease of understanding. Further, the direction in which the pair of arms are unfolded is referred to as a left-right direction, a direction parallel to the axis center of the base axis is referred to as a vertical direction, and a direction orthogonal to the left-right direction and the vertical direction is referred to as a front-rear direction.

(Example)

The feeding device 10 of the food 40 according to the first embodiment is a device that injects a plurality of foods 40 into the tray 41. The case where the input device 10 of the food 40 according to the present invention is constituted by the robot 11 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. However, the input device 10 of the food 40 is not limited to the case where the robot 11 is configured. Here, as the robot 11, a horizontal multi-joint type double arm robot will be described, but a robot 11 such as a horizontal multi-joint type or vertical multi-joint type may be employed. In addition, the food 40 is a food having a certain shape, for example, rice balls and sandwiches are exemplified.

As shown in Fig. 1, the robot 11 includes a trolley 12 and a pair of robot arms supported on the trolley 12 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "arms") (13 , 13) and a control device 14 accommodated in the cart 12. Each arm 13 is a horizontal multi-joint robot arm, and includes an arm portion 15, a wrist portion 17, and hand portions 18 and 19. The arm portion 15 and the wrist portion 17 function as a conveying portion for conveying the plurality of food products 40 onto the tray 41. Here, the left arm 13 and the right arm 13 may have substantially the same structure except for the hand portions 18 and 19. In addition, the left arm 13 and the right arm 13 can operate independently or in relation to each other.

The arm 15 is composed of a first link 15a and a second link 15b in this example. The first link (15a) is connected by a rotating shaft (J1) and the pivot shaft (16) fixed to the upper surface of the bogie (12), it is possible to rotate around the rotation axis (L1) passing through the axis center of the shaft (16) Do. The second link 15b is connected to the tip of the first link 15a by a rotating joint J2, and is rotatable around a rotation axis L2 defined at the tip of the first link 15a.

The wrist portion 17 is composed of a lifting portion 17a and a rotating portion 17b. The lifting part 17a is connected to the front end of the second link 15b by a direct motion joint J3, and is movable up and down with respect to the second link 15b. The rotating part 17b is connected to the lower end of the lifting part 17a and the rotating joint J4, and is rotatable around the rotation axis L3 defined at the lower end of the lifting part 17a.

The right hand part 18 and the left hand part 19 are connected to the rotation part 17b of the wrist part 17, and the supply part 20 for supplying the food 40 and the wave for gripping the food 40 It is comprised by the branch part 30. The supply part 20 has an adsorption head 23. The supply part 20 and the gripping part 30 are provided at the front end of the arm 13. Here, details of the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 will be described later.

The adsorption head 23 is connected to the vacuum generating device 25 through a pipe 24, and a negative pressure can be generated by the vacuum generating device 25. The vacuum generating device 25 is, for example, a vacuum pump, CONVUM (registered trademark), or the like, and is installed on the trolley 12 or the arm 13. For example, an opening/closing valve (not shown) is provided in the pipe 24, and the opening/closing of the pipe 24 by the opening/closing valve allows suction and release by the suction head 23. The operation of the vacuum generating device 25 and the opening and closing of the on-off valve are controlled by the control device 14.

Each arm 13 of the above configuration has respective joints J1 to J4. Further, the arm 13 is provided with a servo motor (not shown) for driving, an encoder (not shown) for detecting the rotation angle of the servo motor, and the like, so as to be attached in correspondence with each joint J1 to J4. In addition, the rotation axis L1 of the first links 15a, 15a of the two arms 13, 13 is on the same line, and the first link 15a of the one arm 13 and the other arm 13 The first link 15a is arranged with a height difference up and down.

As shown in Fig. 2, the control device 14 includes an operation unit 14a such as a CPU, a storage unit 14b such as ROM and RAM, and a servo control unit 14c. The control device 14 is, for example, a robot controller equipped with a computer such as a microcontroller. Here, the control device 14 may be composed of a single control device 14 for centralized control, or a plurality of control devices 14 for distributed control in cooperation with each other.

In the storage unit 14b, information such as a basic program as a robot controller and various fixed data is stored. The operation unit 14a controls various operations of the robot 11 by reading and executing software such as a basic program stored in the storage unit 14b. That is, the calculation unit 14a generates a control command of the robot 11 and outputs it to the servo control unit 14c. The servo control unit 14c is configured to control the drive of the servo motor corresponding to the joints J1 to J4 of each arm 13 of the robot 11, based on the control command generated by the operation unit 14a. have.

Next, the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. Each of the hand parts 18 and 19 includes a supply part 20 and a gripping part 30. The relative displacement of the supply part 20 and the gripping part 30 changes in the left-right direction or the front-rear direction by the rotation of the wrist part 17.

The supply unit 20 includes a pedestal 21, a rotating member 22 and an adsorption head 23. At least one (two in this embodiment) adsorption heads 23 are provided in the supply section 20.

The base 21 extends downward from the wrist portion 17 and has an inclined surface 21a inclined with respect to the extending direction. The inclined surface 21a is directed downward with respect to the front-rear direction or left-right direction. The rotating member 22 is rotatably installed with respect to the inclined surface 21a of the pedestal 21. The rotating member 22 rotates about an axis perpendicular to the inclined surface 21a. The adsorption head 22 is provided on the rotating member 22. The adsorption head 23 is an adsorption pad formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and has a cap shape opened in a direction away from the rotating member 22. The two adsorption heads 23 are arranged so that there is no step at the edge of the opening.

As the rotating member 22 rotates, the opening of the adsorption head 23 changes direction in the downward and lateral directions (left and right directions). For example, in the case of FIG. 3, the adsorption head 23 of the left hand portion 19 faces downward, and the suction head 23 of the right hand portion 18 faces the left side.

The gripping portion 30 includes a gripping member 31 and a supporting member 32. The clamping member 31 is, for example, a rectangular plate shape and extends downward. The main surface (opposite surface) of one side of the clamping member 31 is in a direction away from the supply unit 20 and faces the side opposite to the side facing the opening of the suction head 23. For example, in the case of the right hand portion 18 of Fig. 3, the opening of the adsorption head 23 faces to the left, while the opposing surface of the gripping member 31 faces to the right.

A pair of gripping members 31 is constituted by the gripping member 31 of the right hand portion 18 and the gripping member 31 of the left hand portion 19. By the rotation of the wrist portion 17, the opposing surface of the gripping member 31 of the left hand portion 18 and the opposing surface of the gripping member 31 of the left hand portion 19 are installed parallel to each other to face each other. It is possible. For example, in the case of FIG. 4, the opposing faces of the right hand portion 18 face the left side, the opposing faces of the right hand portion 19 face the right side, and the pair of opposing faces face each other.

The support member 32 is arranged perpendicular to the opposing surface, on the side of the opposing surface of the clamping member 31. The support member 32 may be any shape capable of supporting portions (for example, upper portions of the food products 40) of the plurality of food products 40 to be listed. In this embodiment, since a triangular shaped rice ball is used for the food 40, the support member 32 is formed in a mountain shape (inverted V-shape) that extends downward. This may be formed by connecting one end of the two plate bodies, or may be formed by bending one plate body. In addition, the size of the support member 32 may be any size corresponding to one or more foods 40 of the foods 40 listed. However, if the support member 32 is dimensioned to span the plurality of foods 40, the support member 32 can support the food 40 more stably.

Next, a method of injecting the food 40 by the robot 11 having the above configuration into the tray 41 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. This method is controlled by the control device 14. In addition, although a method of injecting a triangular shaped rice ball has been described herein, the method of injecting it in other foods 40 is also the same, so the description is omitted. In addition, the outer surface of the food 40 has three square planes and two triangle planes. The two triangular planes are formed parallel to each other.

As shown in Fig. 3, in front of the robot 11, a work table 42 and a belt conveyor 43 are arranged, and a tray 41 is disposed on the side of the robot 11 (left in this embodiment). It is. The work table 42 is a stand for temporarily mounting the food 40, and is disposed between the robot 11 and the vent conveyor 43. The belt conveyor belt 43 is a device for transporting food 40 to the front of the robot 11. In this embodiment, since the triangular plane of the food 40 has a larger area than the rectangular plane, the food 40 is transported in the horizontal direction by the belt conveyor 43 toward the vertical plane in the vertical direction. The tray 41 is a container for holding the food 40 for shipment, for example, and is opened upward.

First, the robot 11 faces the opening of the adsorption head 23 of the right hand portion 18 or the left hand portion 19 downward, and places it on the triangular plane of the food 40 on the belt conveyor 43. At this time, the vacuum generating device 25 (FIG. 1) is operated, and the piping 24 (FIG. 1) is opened by the opening/closing valve. Accordingly, the food 40 is adsorbed by the adsorption head 23.

Subsequently, the adsorption head 23 is moved over the workbench 42 by the arm 15, and the food 40 is transported to the upper side of the workbench 42. Further, the rotating member 22 is rotated so that the opening of the adsorption head 23 is directed from the bottom to the side. At this time, the openings of the adsorption head 23 of one hand portion 18 and 19 of the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 face the other hand portion 18 and 19 side. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, the opening of the adsorption head 23 of the right hand portion 18 faces the left side. Accordingly, the posture of the food 40 may be changed such that the rectangular plane is downward.

Then, the adsorption head 23 is lowered by the wrist portion 17, and the piping 24 (FIG. 1) is closed by an opening/closing valve. Accordingly, adsorption of the adsorption head 23 to the food 40 is released, and the food 40 is placed on the work table 42. At this time, when the food 40 is already placed on the work table 42, the existing food 40 is listed on the left or right side. At this time, a plurality of foods 40 are listed so that the triangular planes of the foods 40 come into contact.

The food 40 is supplied to the work table 42 through a series of operations from adsorption to release of the food 40. This series of supplying operations may consist of the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19, or may be made on only one side. By performing the right hand part 18 and the left hand part 19 alternately, the working process time can be shortened.

As shown in Fig. 4, a series of feeding operations are repeated, and a predetermined number (six in this embodiment) of foods 40 are listed. Subsequently, the wrist portion 17 is rotated so that the opposing surface of the left hand portion 19 and the opposing surface of the right hand portion 18 face each other. In addition, the gripping portion 30 is disposed by the arm portion 15 on the outside of both sides of the plurality of food products 40 listed. The right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 are lowered by the wrist portion 17, and the support member 32 is placed on the top of the food 40. Then, the left hand portion 19 is moved to the right by the arm 15 so that the distance between the opposing surface of the left hand portion 19 and the opposing surface of the right hand portion 18 is narrowed, and the right hand portion ( 18) is moved to the right by the arm 15. Accordingly, the plurality of food products 40 are sandwiched between the gripping portions of the left hand portion 19 and the gripping portions of the right hand portion 18. Therefore, the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 are raised by the wrist portion 17. At this time, by setting the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 to the same height, a plurality of foods 40 arranged so that the triangular planes are in contact are lifted from the work table 42.

As shown in Fig. 5, the pair of arms 13 and 13 are rotated relative to the bogie 12, so that the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 are rotated. Accordingly, the food 40 held by each gripping portion 30 of the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 is transported to the upper side of the tray 41.

Then, the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 are lowered by the wrist portion 17 to place the food 40 on the tray 41. When the right hand portion 18 and the left hand portion 19 are moved so that the distance between the opposing surface of the left hand portion 19 and the opposing surface of the right hand portion 18 is wide, the food 40 is placed in the tray 41 ). Here, such an arm part 15 and a wrist part 17 are possible as a conveyance part for conveying the plurality of food products 40 gripped by each gripping part 30 on the tray 41.

According to the said structure, the holding part 30 is provided with the pair of clamping members 31 which sandwich the some food 40 from both sides in the direction in which the some food 40 was listed. Even if the food 40 is easily deformed, such as rice balls and sandwiches, the food 40 can be accommodated in the tray 41 without being deformed by holding and conveying the food 40 by the gripping member 31. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an increase in non-conforming products and to suppress a decrease in work efficiency.

In addition, the pair of clamping members 31 are respectively constituted by plate-like bodies provided parallel to each other. In this way, since the clamping member 31 has a simple shape, product cost can be reduced. In addition, since the clamping member 31 is thin, the gap between the foods 40 accommodated in the tray 41 is first filled and the foods 40 can be accommodated in the tray 41.

Furthermore, the supply unit 20 includes an adsorption head 23 that adsorbs food 40. The food 40 is adsorbed by the adsorption head 23 and supplied to the work table 42 or the like. Accordingly, even if the food 40 is easily deformed, the food 40 can be supplied without being deformed.

In addition, the gripping portion 30 further includes a support member 32 that supports the plurality of foods 40 from the other side of the direction in which the plurality of foods 40 are listed. The food 40 can be held more reliably by supporting the food 40 by the support member 32 in addition to the gripping member 31. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the food 40 from falling and the like, and to prevent the deformation of the food 40.

Furthermore, the support member 32 has a mountain shape extending downward. For example, by fitting the acid-shaped support member 32 on top of the food 40 such as a triangular shaped rice ball and a sandwich, the food 40 can be supported in more directions. Therefore, the food 40 can be grasped more reliably and deformation of the food 40 can be prevented.

In addition, the outer surface of the food 40 has a pair of parallel triangular planes, and a plurality of foods 40 are arranged so that the triangular planes come into contact with each other and are lifted by the pair of clamping members 31. . Accordingly, it is possible to stably grip the food 40, and at the same time, it is possible to improve the storage efficiency of the food 40 in the tray 41, thereby improving work efficiency.

Furthermore, the food input device is constituted by a robot 11 having a pair of arms 13 having a gripping portion 30 at its tip. For example, each of the supply portion 20 and the gripping portion 30 may be detachably attached to the wrist portion 17 through a mounting portion (not shown). The supply portion 20 is mounted on the wrist portion 17 by the mounting portion, installed at the tip of the arm 13, and the gripping portion 30 is attached to the tip of the arm 13 mounted on the wrist portion 17 by the mounting portion. Is installed. According to this, for example, by using the general-purpose robot 11 that can replace the tip, it is possible to input food only by replacing the tip.

(Other examples)

In the above embodiment, the adsorption head 23 is used for the supply unit 20, but is not limited to this as long as it can supply the food 40 to the work table 42 or the like. For example, the supply portion 20 may be an L-shaped plate member. In this case, the food 40 may be raised by the L-shaped plate member and supplied to the gripping portion 30.

In the above embodiment, an acid-shaped plate member is used for the support member 32, but the support member 32 is not limited to this as long as it is a shape that supports the food 40. For example, the support member 32 may be a parallel plate member. In this case, the support member 32 may support the upper surface of the rectangular parallelepiped food 40, the support member 32 may support the side of the food 40, and the support member 32 may support the food ( 40) may be supported. Among these, if the upper and/or side surfaces of the rectangular parallelepiped food 40 are supported by the support member 32, the support member 32 is not installed below the food 40. In this case, when removing the food 40 from the gripping portion 30, there is no need to widen the gap between the pair of clamping members 31, and the gap between the food 40 can be filled and accommodated in the tray 41. have.

In the above embodiment, the anti-slip member 33 may be further included on the opposing surface of the gripping member 31. The anti-slip member 33 is a member that increases the coefficient of friction between the facing surface of the gripping member 31 and the food 40, and is formed of, for example, an elastic material such as rubber. The anti-slip member 33 has, for example, a thin sheet shape.

In the above embodiment, a sensor (not shown) for detecting the presence or absence of food 40 delivered to the belt conveyor 43 may be further included. The sensor is installed in front of the robot 11, and detects the presence of food 40 conveyed to the robot 11 by a belt conveyor 43. The control device 14 of the robot 11 receives a detection signal from a sensor and adsorbs food to the adsorption head 23.

In the above embodiment, a camera (not shown) for sensing the direction of the food 40 conveyed to the belt conveyor 43 may be further provided. The camera is installed on the upper side of the belt conveyor 43, and photographs the food 40 that is conveyed in front of the robot 11 by the belt conveyor 43. The control device 14 of the robot 11 detects the direction of the food 40 from the image of the food 40 taken by the camera. Then, based on the direction of the food 40, the supply part 20 is rotated by the wrist part 17, and the posture of the food 40 is changed such that the square plane of the food 40 is downward.

In the above embodiment, a mountain-shaped support member 32 was used. The support member 32 is formed of two plates, and the spacing between the two plates may be adjustable. In this case, actuators (not shown) such as cylinders are provided on one or both of the two plate-like bodies, and one or both of the two plate-like bodies are moved by the actuator. For example, the gap between the pair of clamping members 31 is narrowed, and the gap between the two plates is narrowed, and the food 40 is gripped. According to this, the food 40 can be gripped more reliably.

In the above-described embodiment, an adsorption port (not shown) may be provided on a contact surface in contact with the food 40 in the support member 32. In this case, a vacuum generator (not shown) is connected to the suction port through a pipe (not shown), and an opening/closing valve is installed on the pipe. The operation of the vacuum generating device and the opening and closing of the on-off valve are controlled by the control device 14. For example, the gap between the pair of clamping members 31 is narrowed, and the food 40 is adsorbed at the suction port. According to this, the food 40 can be gripped more reliably. Here, the vacuum generator connected to the suction port may be used as the vacuum generator 25 connected to the suction head 23. In addition, the suction port and the vacuum release device may be provided in the input device 10 together with an actuator that adjusts the space between the two plates in the support member 32. According to this, the food 40 can be more stably gripped by the gripping portion 30.

From the above description, many improvements or other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the above description should be interpreted only as an example, and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the present invention. The details of the structure and/or function can be changed substantially without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The present invention is useful as a food input device that can suppress a decrease in work efficiency.

10: input device
20: supply
23: adsorption head
30: gripping part
31: absence of pinching
32: support member
40: food
41: tray

Claims (7)

A supply unit that supplies food;
And a gripping portion for gripping a plurality of the food listed on the mounting surface by the supply unit,
A conveying unit for conveying a plurality of the food gripped by the gripping unit on a tray,
The gripping portion includes a pair of pinching members sandwiching the plurality of foods from both sides of the plurality of foods in a direction in which the plurality of foods are listed,
Each of the pair of pinching members is constituted by a plate-like body installed parallel to each other,
The gripping portion further includes a supporting member supporting at least one of an upper surface and a side surface of the plurality of foods in a state in which the lower side of the food is opened,
The outer surface of the food has a pair of planes that are parallel, and the gripping portion is below the food on the plurality of foods arranged in a direction parallel to the mounting surface on the mounting surface so that the planes contact each other. The food injecting device, characterized in that it is fitted by a pair of the pinching members in an open state and lifted from the mounting surface. According to claim 1,
The supply unit is a food input device characterized in that it comprises an adsorption head for adsorbing the food. According to claim 1,
The support member, the food input device characterized in that it has an acid shape that extends downward. According to claim 1,
Food input device characterized in that it is configured by a robot having a pair of arms having the gripping portion at the tip.

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